Basic Ambush

Victorious charge of the Greek cavalry.

My newly organized, refurbished and rebased Greco-Bactrians took the field today. A routine convoy near the border being suddenly being ambushed (Sfor W #30) by an enemy originally classed as bandits but which turned out to be part of the Han expedition which has been probing the borders of Bactria.

The escort was composed of the following: 1 horse archer, 1 lancer, 1 large pike and 2 peltast units led by my sub-commander Alexander The Minifig. The ambush force consisted of 1 horse archer unit, 2 crossbow and spear units and 2 light infantry assault troops with halberds.  A clash of light cavalry units eventually saw the Chinese routed but my peltasts and horse archers were no match for the massed crossbows. I managed to get the wagons past the Chinese and there was nothing air in between them and the bridge but one last long range volley of crossbow bolts wiped out one of the wagons. A draw was still possible but my heavy cavalry was in trouble. They had been moving to protect the wagons on the only turn in the game in which I won the initiative. Ron's shock troops had been bypassed by my rapid advance and rushed to catch up. A flip of the initiative and a lucky charge bonus roll brought them into contact with my flank before I could react. After 2 turns of melee I finally pushed his unit back, pursued but was repulsed. The 2nd shock unit now caught me before I could rally and after 2 more turns of melee, my unit finally broke taking my army with it. Final tally, Chinese losses 1 light cavalry unit, Bactrian losses, General + Heavy Cavalry, Horse Archers, 2 peltast units. 

Since we had time in hand, I switched out my troops and we reset, Ron swapping his horse archers for a unit of shock light cavalry, me swapping the pikes and 1 peltast units for a unit of cataphracts and 2 skirmisher units; 1 bow, 2 javelin.  This time my skirmishers, horse archer and peltasts ganged up on his 1st massed crossbow unit and eventually routed it (rolling 18 dice in one turn without a single 5 or 6). The rest of his army was hidden near the bridge. I was a bit too hasty pushing my wagons forward, covered only by the cataphracts and a unit of skirmishers and found myself in a tight spot. The cataphracts charged up the hill in disorder but managed just 1 hit out of 9 dice. The melee continued next turn and my cavalry were repulsed, retreating until their backs were against the wagons.  The Shock Light Cavalry now took a crack at them and came within a hair of pushing the cataphracts back into the wagons routing them but led by my general in person, they held on. On the next turn my light troops showered one of the enemy light infantry with arrows and javelins, routing it and my heavy cavalry crashed uphill into the already battered unit crushing it. The enemy broke. A close call! 

2 fun games. The hex adaptation o basic Impetus continues to please.